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The US Army Corps of Engineers is investing $2.7 billion from President’s Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to strengthen port and waterway supply chains and climate resilience
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This investment brings to US$17 billion total funds allocated by the Biden administration for port and waterway projects
US President Joe Biden secured unprecedented investments on March 29 through his Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and other appropriations that increased to US$17 billion the total funding to improve US ports and waterways supply chains, the White House said in a statement.
The new total comes after it was announced that the US Army Corps of Engineers was investing $2.7 billion from Biden’s BIL. The funds will go to 300 Army Corps projects focused on strengthening ports and waterways.
Additionally, the Department of the Interior announced BIL funding allocations by the Bureau of Reclamation for nearly $1.7 billion in rural infrastructure funding for FY 2023.
The president’s BIL was earlier this year allocated a US$14 billion funding for projects to modernize the ports and waterways to move goods faster and make them resilient to climate change after decades of neglect.
These latest investments take the administration’s total infusion of new BIL funding and other supplemental appropriations in fiscal year 2022-2023 to nearly US$17 billion for more than 800 projects across 55 states and territories.
“These key projects will strengthen the nation’s supply chain, provide significant new economic opportunities nationwide, and bolster our defenses against climate change,” the White House said in a statement.
The administration’s port projects include investing more than US$72 million to widen and deepen the Norfolk Harbor, Virginia, federal navigation channel to increase the resilience of America’s supply chain.
The Norfolk Harbor project handled 67% more containers in 2021 than it did 10 years ago. Work will improve navigation and enable safer access by larger commercial and naval vessels, and provide significant new economic opportunities to the region.
The Biden Administration is also investing nearly US$11 million in the Port of Galveston in Texas by deepening a portion of the Galveston Harbor Channel to accommodate larger vessels throughout the port, increasing capacity while enabling improved operational safety.
Further, the US$68 million investment to deepen the Brazos Island Harbor Channel at the Port of Brownsville in Texas will enable increased cargo movements, reduced transit times and better operational safety.
The US Army Corps’ projects will include the Emsworth Locks and Dams on the Upper Ohio River, Pennsylvania, where new lock chambers will be built to allow large cargo ships to pass through, relieving landside congestion and facilitating timely delivery of goods.
Another project is the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, which moves 12 million tons of agricultural commodities annually to American farmers and provides flood control to many communities in Arkansas and Oklahoma along the Mississippi River.
From the Reclamation’s nearly US$1.7 billion rural infrastructure funding, US$649 million will be spent on major repairs and rehabilitation of ageing facilities; US$248 million for rural water projects that increases access to potable water by various tribal and non-tribal underserved communities; and US$95 million for building water storage, groundwater storage and conveyance infrastructure.
